Luxembourg's National Health Fund (CNS) recorded a deficit of €100 million in 2025, with the figure expected to rise to €126 million this year. If the current trend continues unchecked, the reserve would fall below the legally required threshold of 10% of total expenditure, making contribution increases unavoidable the year after next. To head this off, a strategic committee and working group have been created, and a range of possible measures have been tabled.
According to Health Minister Martine Deprez, the proposed measures, amounting to €95 million in total, should not be seen as austerity measures, but rather as spending controls. The measures stretch from reducing unnecessary prescriptions and shortening hospital stays to tightening oversight of doctors issuing an unusually high number of sick notes. Work on implementing these measures is ongoing. If an assessment in the autumn concludes that they are not sufficient, Minister Deprez has not ruled out either contribution increases or greater state involvement.
Representatives of the unions and employers within the health fund were pleased with the package of measures, noting that it was comprehensive, would not result in any deterioration for those insured, and would avoid contribution increases for the time being.
The Association of Doctors and Dentists (AMMD), however, struck a harder line at the quadripartite meeting, making clear that it will not sign the newly negotiated agreement with the CNS until the Christian Social People's Party's (CSV) election promises have been delivered. Among the outstanding demands are greater provision of medical care outside hospitals and changes to the Social Security Code to introduce new mechanisms for setting rates. Minister Deprez assured those present that the measures set out in the coalition agreement would be implemented. AMMD president Chris Roller responded that assurances alone were not enough and that concrete action was now needed.
